Good morning. I spent yesterday here, there, and everywhere. Some insights of the day--
At the old timers cafe by the water--
An old woman about 70-something says to her husband, "Did you read this? It looks like Paris Hilton is going to jail."
I don't know why this struck me as so funny or just so bizarre. Here I was having breakfast in a tiny cafe, one of those cafe where it looks as if the rug hasn't been changed in decades and there are plastic plants, in a town of less than 6000 and here is this woman commenting on the life of Paris Hilton.
It sort of concerns me--how much I know about celebrities--even without trying. And it's never anything good or positive (with the exception of Sheryl Crow trying to save the world), but it's these weird dramas like Alec Baldwin flipping out on his daughter or David Hasselhoff drunk. They make my MSN homepage. It concerns me I know about Alec Baldwin's divorce than I do about my cousin in New Jersey. Not that he's getting divorced, but it's been awhile since we've talked. I'd love a week without celebrity news, actually, without any news. My life is quite complete without knowing the queen visited the Kentucky Derby or that DNA mutations boosts heart disease in whites.
But I realize, I'm one of those "hippie types" (as a friend called me yesterday) who likes to be unplugged, unwired, and tuned off. But it's interesting, in my small town, I'm considered quite high tech--I have a cellphone and a laptop that gets wi-fi. In the city, I'm low-tech--no Blackberry or PalmPilot, no TiVo, no digital anything. And my husband recently gave me his old i-Pod (which I still have no idea how to program) and instead of music, mine is filled with NPR programs.
I'd love to live in a country that didn't give ratings to news channels. I'd be interested in seeing what was reported, losing that "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality. I would like to wake up and not see the name Paris Hilton on my daily news. And a week of no news. Imagine. I wonder if I could avoid news for a week? That would mean turning off my love partner NPR or maybe I could just turn it off during the News of the Hour or as I call it "Radio to Slit Your Wrists To" as it so darned depressing.
I'm not sure, I'll be thinking more of this. News, life, and pop culture definitely ends up in my poems. Oprah just appeared the other day. And dare I say it-- Victoria Beckham in a poem about God. So, these strangers have slid into my life and ultimately, my poems. Strange times, these are. We've blended into these strange minds of knowledge, trivia, and unneeded information. I'm still looking for balance.
